Background and Aim: The flipped classroom approach, as an innovative and dynamic instructional model, has attracted considerable attention from researchers over the past two decades due to the challenges associated with the teaching–learning process in traditional classroom settings. Accordingly, the present study aimed to compare the effects of flipped classroom instruction and traditional teacher-centered lecture-based instruction on the academic motivation and critical thinking of sixth-grade female elementary school students in science education.
Methods: This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all sixth-grade female students in Chabahar city in the academic year 2024-2025 (810 people), of whom 30 were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group). After the pre-test, the intervention was held for the experimental group in the flipped classroom method during one academic semester and for the control group in the conventional method.
Results: The results showed that the mean scores of intrinsic, extrinsic motivation, and critical thinking in the experimental group at the post-test were significantly higher than those of the control group; also, the mean scores of amotivation in the experimental group at the post-test were significantly lower than those of the control group.
Conclusion: flipped classroom teaching can be considered an effective method in improving motivation and strengthening critical thinking in elementary school students.